Wherein Marsha Ward (the founder of American Night Writers Association) and a few of her friends blogged about Life, the Universe, and their place in the World of Writing and Publishing. This blog is now dormant.

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Feb 2, 2007

Have you ever noticed that some of the most precious moments of peace come accompanied with simple little things?

I can remember finding peace during one of the most tumultuous times of my life simply by sitting in a rocking chair rocking one of my children. I had come home from a job I had begun to hate. It was very late. I was tired and frustrated, and I wanted nothing more than to fall into bed. As I headed to my room to crawl into bed next to my sleeping husband, I heard my youngest child start fussing. Heaving a huge sigh of annoyance at the disruption and further delay to my much-needed sleep, I made a U-turn and headed to his bedroom.

He held his arms up to me the moment I entered the darkened room. I picked him up and sat down in the rocker next to his crib. He snuggled in against me, and we simply rocked. Back and forth. Back and forth. My stomach began to unclench. I inhaled his sweet, baby scent, stroked his silky curls and laid my cheek against the top of his head. Back and forth, back and forth. Gratitude and an overwhelming love for this sweet child whom God had entrusted to me, flowed into me. With it came joy. And then peace. I rocked him long after he fell back asleep, marveling at the blessing and responsibility of motherhood.

When at last I lay him down and crawled into my own bed, peace remained with me. I snuggled up against my slumbering husband feeling as if all were right with the world. I slept much better than I had in weeks.

How blessed we are to have a Heavenly Father who knows just what we need, even when we think we need something completely different!~Donna Hatch

3 comments:

Donna, thanks for the post. It brought many fond memories of rocking my own little ones. There's a scripture somewhere that says something like, "Be still and know that I am God." I'd look it up but then I'd not get back to this comment.